Every once in a while someone passes through your life and has an impact so strong that you will think about them for eternity… Such is the case with Simon, and this is his story.
Simon is a cat, an old cat at that..(couldn’t resist…) He joined our family 2 years ago after we adopted him from the Valley River Humane Society near the town in which we live. The Humane Society has a climate-controlled trailer that they transport the animals in and park it at various places throughout the county in the hopes that someone will stop by and fall in love with one of the loveable critters on board. We did.
My oldest son and I were at a car show, and while we were looking around my son spotted the trailer and its inhabitants. He was looking in all the cages reading their names, ages, sex, etc…… Soon he spotted Simon. He wasn’t perky like most of the other animals, he mostly just lay in the corner of his cage- oblivious to the ruckus outside. He wasn’t really even an attractive cat- kinda skinny- looked like he had a long, hard life. And Simon was old- eleven to be exact. Being the animal lover that my oldest is, of course he asked if we could take him home. Believe it or not, I actually considered it for a minute then I thought about our very large (though very friendly) dog and our aging cat, Spooky who was pushing 16 and very happy being the only feline in the equation…. I told my son no and explained why. He was a little upset but understood the circumstances.
About 3 weeks later I was with a client when we spotted a tiny stray dog that looked like a Yorkshire terrier. I am a complete sucker for strays and picked him up and brought him home. I promised myself that I would diligently work toward finding this little guy a home, as we simply did not need another mouth to feed. Needless to say, in the two weeks that I had this little dog (who we named Humphrey) we all fell in love with him. My oldest cried when I told him Humphrey had a home and he begged and begged to keep him. I am still uncertain as to why I said this (I chalk it up to fate) but I told him since we found Humphrey a home, perhaps we could go to the Humane Society and see if Simon was still there. So that is what we did.
My three kids and I walked in and my oldest son asked the lady at the counter if he could see the oldest cat there. She replied “That would be Simon.” All of our hearts skipped a beat! We were so excited to still find him there. My son explained to the very sweet lady that he did not want Simon to spend his last days at the shelter and we would like to give him a “forever home.” To my surprise, it was 2 for 1 day and we adpoted a 2 year old cat named Rebel too.
As I said before, this was 2 years ago. All Simon wanted was love and in return all he gave was love- lots of love. All he did was lay around, purr, eat, purr some more and snuggle with the children every second that he could. We were told that Simon was brought to the Shelter because his owner that he knew his whole life had passed away, and there was nobody to take care of him. The workers at the shelter told us that he was very lonely and depressed and they were just trying to make him as happy as they could……Sigh…..
In April my oldest son found Simon laying on the floor bleeding from his nose. This was around 9:30pm and I immediately called our vet. He was not on call, so I brought him to another vet and she told me that Simon probably had a tumor and was given a 50% chance of surviving the night due to his age and the amount of blood that was lost. This was April 24th to be exact. I left him there and cried the whole way back home. Luckily my mother came over to sit with the children until I could return… The next day I received a phone call. Simon was doing better!!! The doctor said “He’s a fighter, and he’s not ready to give up.” I picked him up later that day along with a small suitcase full of medicines. He needed the medicines to keep the bleeding under control, and to keep him pain free. He took his medicines and seemed to be doing just fine! Sadly, however, on April 29th Simon went missing. He just vanished. The kids and I prayed and prayed that he was safe, that someone picked him up and saved him, that someone loved him like we did. This cat affected the lives of myself and my children in ways that are simply indescribable. All he wanted in his lifetime was a warm place to sleep, food, and a gentle touch from someone that loved him. There is honestly not a day that goes by that I don’t wonder where he is, or what happened to him. My sincerest hope is that he did not suffer in any way and wherever he may be is definitely a better place because he is there. Our family will always remember Simon and the unconditional love he gave and was given, and of this I am sure; if God allows cats into heaven, then Simon is there, watching over us all….. We love you, Simon.
